Emily Williams
Published: 06/05/2012
Posted by: RET Staff

I recently downloaded another one of HubSpot's awesome inbound marketing guides: Optimizing Email Marketing for Conversions. (Link for the complete guide at the end of this article.) While some of what the guide covers is a bit heavy for the average real estate agent, I do think that there is a lot of useful information. I'm going to cover a few of the high points here.

Growing Your Email List

First, you need people to send marketing emails to. We've talked about growing your email list here on RE Technology, but HubSpot offers some additional perspectives.

• The "wrong way": Buying an email list, even from a reputable source. Now, I'm not sure that I agree with HubSpot here. There are some great real estate-specific lead generation sources that sell contact information, including emails. However, HubSpot's argument is threefold: by buying an email list, you alienate recipients because they haven't signed up to receive emails from you; you could get marked for spam; and these recipients aren't as engaged as recipients who have opted-in.
• The "right way": HubSpot argues that if you create valuable content and make it relevant to your target audience, the subscribers will inevitably follow. More specifically, that means creating a website and blog that are filled with resources relevant to home buyers or sellers in your area. Then, of course, you must add a subscribe button or lead capture form to the website/blog.

Another key point from the eBook: improving your unsubscribe process can help you maintain your email list. How? Well, people hitting "unsubscribe" may still enjoy your content but would just like to receive it less frequently. If you give them the option to sign up for less frequent emails or emails that are only about one specific thing (i.e. new listings that meet certain criteria), they may still choose to remain engaged with you.